Here is what is going on! 5-11-15

Hey Yall! here is what is happening in Maceio Brazil!

So winter is starting up here... but that hasnt really made a difference temperature wise! its still super hot here and im getting sunburned like non other! but on the other hand, it did rain like 3 times during the week... to bad it was at night time... so we didnt get a break from the hot brazilian sun!

This week was really busy, there have been some problems in the Zone, so we had to do 2 divisions, it was a good time. but its hard to travel from the area and leave it with out work, but the divisions were good. as the zone leaders we always go with plans to teach the other missionaries, but i always feel like i always learn more than i teach. things i learned on the divisions this week: 

1. our choices to be obedient dont just affect us, the effect our companion as well.. so be obedient! 

2.because newbies dont always know where to go, they are amazing at having the spirit guide them... sometimes i think i need to stop and let the spirit guide instead of thinking that i already know everything teaching wise! 

3. The lord blesses us with happiness and sucess when we forget ourselves and do work!

this week we also had leadership counsel with president, all the Zone leaders in the mission and met up and president and the assistents gave trainings about revelation! president talked about how normally we just complain that things arent going well, when we work hard and try to do what is right, but sometimes we start trying to do our mission, and not the mission of the lord. how we need to remember that effort and doing what is right, but if we forget to look for revelation in our work and do what the spirit is telling us to do, we can ley many things pass us by and miss the miracles! it was a really interesting training! learned a ton! hoping to work more with revelation these last 5 months!

here is the news about the investigators:

Ronny and Myllena were baptized this week! it was so awesome. its beenm amazing to see the changes that have happened, both in behaviors and in spirit. when people are baptized and confirmed, something really special happens, and im not really sure how to explain it, but it just shows in the light in their eyes. it is great to be a part of the miracles that have happened in their lives! Ruan and Mirelly, (their brother and sister) are progressing well to be baptized this week! best of all their mom, Lucimar went to church this week! really excited to see the whole family slowly make its way to baptize, one by one!

Camilla: she is doing well, she has some troubles about the church standards, such as tatoos and peircings. its kind of been a road block, but we are hoping that we can help her have a good spiritual experience so that she can make this last step to be baptized this week!

Lucas: he is living the commandments and going to church but he really has no time for us to teach him. but things are looking good for him to be baptized this month!

Josival and Crenilda: they are doing awesome! they organized a bunch of papers so thattomorrow we can go get the wedding process started! they are really awesome, really receptive to our teachings, and working really hard on stopping to drink! hopefully they will be baptized this month as well!

João and Joelma: this week a miracle took place with them. Joelma is a member that is coming back to church and she lives with João, who is wanting to be baptized, but she has been reluctant in getting married with him, but this week she found out that some one she knew died with out getting sealed to her family.. it really touched her, and she told us how she let some small things get in the way of her recieving the greatest blessings of the gospel! it was an awesome lesson, the whole family was crying and they are getting things ready so that they can get married! MIRACLES!!!

that is the update on the investigators. things are going really well! really loving the area and my comp, Elder Carvalho, we are having a great time and great success!

hope that everyone is doing well! love you all!

Elder Ryan

Alrighty 5-4-15

Hey yall! things are going great on this side of the planet! here is the latest news on what has been happening!

this week was Marise's baptism. it was awesome! it has been such a great expereince. she has changed so much. she was so sad and enfronting so many problems, and as she lived the things we taught it was incredible to see the changes that have happened. she was really happy on saturday. Larissa was also thrilled! great to see a family in united in the Gospel! 

here is the update on investigators! 

Ronni and Milena: this week was great with them, we taught them just about every day and they had some really great experiences with the church and the spirit and they accepted to be baptized this saturday! they are really excited and have been progressing really well, we also started teaching their sister and brother, and this sunday they went to church, and they really liked it! things are going well! The members have realy been helping out with them as well

Lucas: Went to church this week, really liked it. when he got there, he knew like almost everyone there! he felt really at home. it was awesome to see just how happy the members were to see him in the church. things are going well with him!

Camilla: She also went to church again this week! she has really been needing the gospel, this week when we visited her, she started talking to us and telling us how she was praying that God could show her the way, and we should up! Bam! that was legit! she is marked to be baptized on the 9th as well!

Josival and Crenilda: they are doing well.. the progress hasnt been quite so great about the marriage process, they are kind of going slow.. but crenilda stopped smoking this week, so that was awesome, and josival went to church again! so that was awesome! they said that this week they will start the papers so that they can get married! 

Really liking the area, its been realyl fun here, we have been working realy hard and finding lots of awesome people to teach and have been having tons of sucess, this week the ward had a huge party and all the members really made our investigarors feel at home! things are going really well here! hoping that i can stay here until the end of my mission, things are just falling into place! 

my whole mission i always wanted to help people recieve the gospel and be baptized , but i think that my motives werent always the best. most of the time i think i was wanting to be recognized by my fellow missionaries as "the Missionary" and i had some sucess in my mission, i was able to teach people and work my self to death, but it was always missing something. but now i think i have learned something really important. Just love the people and that is when the miracles really happen! just forget yourself and love everyone that is around you. and then God does the rest. Ive been seeing real miracles here in the area and im really loving the people that im teaching and the members here in the ward! things are going great! 

Love you all, thanks for writing and your prayers! boa Semana! 

Elder Ryan

hope that everyone is doing well! 

here we go again! 3-30-15

so this week was legit! Larissa got baptized this week, it was really great! the ward was there to support and was a really spiritual experience! 

had a good week work wise, found some good new people to teach and have been trying to get them to church. seems like it is always the same problem. but we are gonna keep working with them! 

this week we did a division with one of the companionships in our zone, i stayed with Elder Santana and Elder Brown, elder brown has been on the mission for a grand 20 days now... his portugesse was limited to say the least. gave me a flashback to more than a year ago when i was in his shoes.. brazilian companion, brazilian food, brazilian culture... and me... LOST! haha it was interesting to reflect on the beginining of the mission and see just how far i have come. really felt like ive grown up (probably not as much as i think! haha) but many things have certainly changed. one thing that the mission has taught me has been to just go out and get things done! dont wait for others act, but to do and be productive, to try the best even when the path in front isnt so clear.. the mission has provided so many great growing experiences! 

this week, the secretaries called me asking me what airport i wanted to land in.... i officially only have six months left... it was such a weird sensation.. sometimes it doesnt feel real that my misison will end... but just trying to live up these last six months to the fullest! 

Larissa´s baptism was awesome, her parents are separated and her dad is a member in another ward, he was there and bore his testimony, it was really a good feeling at the service. after avery baptism ive had, there is a feelin that you just cant beat. the feelin that yo know that you helped some one find the way home.... incredible! 

hope that everyone is doin well! im doing great! its hot, but its good! 

Elder Ryan

The Last Week in Siqueira. 3-9-15

So this week was the Transfer, and believe it or not, im finally leaving Siqueira Campos. kind of hard to believe, its been so long that it feels like home here! practically became a member of the ward! haha Im excited for the new area, but its hard leaving all the people here, especially Islei and his family and Aparecida. but the mission goes on! excited to hear where i´ll be going! i will know tomorrow! so i´ll give you the update next week! 

so in this last week we have been having a lot of good progress with the members. we have really been trying to work with them and find new people to teach through the members, it was really good, we managed to find a really legit family to teach! really sad that i wont be able to stay to watch their progress but i know that elder Kimball will take good care of them! 

I think i talked a bit about Everton and Micheylene last week, but if not i will explain again. they are a couple that a member invited to church and they went, they loved it, this week we were teaching them and they told us that they want to get married so that they can get baptized! so legit! really sad (again) that i wont be here to see it! but it has been really cool to see how the gospel has filled in the whole in their lives that things of the world just couldnt fill! amazing how that works! needless to say, they are awesome! 

its been a pain packing my bags... sometimes i think to my self , "why do i have so much crap!" then i remember that Jenifer Johnson is my mother and that i inherited the habit of keeping everything that i have, thinking that one day i will use it, then realizing... i never will! ;)  Love you Mom!! haha 

it was a good last week here in Siqueira! i Learned lots here. i think the happiest and saddest moments of my mission were spent here. most of all i think i learned just how real the gospel is and just how true the things we teach are! my personal conversion has grown a lot. and its more than just something that has been planted in my head, but it is now something that is concreted in my heart! 

hope that everyone is doing well! love you all and appreciate all the letters! 

Elder Ryan

 

I'm an old man! 2-9-15

so tomorrow i will become an old man.. and that is just weird! i cant believe that im gonna be 20, seems like it was yesterday that i was home, a little 18 year old punk leaving on the mission... time is just passing by way too fast!

so things have been going really well here in Siqueira in a couple of areas, and not so good in others so lets get the run down started! 

So the good news is that me and elder Kimball are killing it! we are teaching so many lessons a week (about 40) which is like nuts, ive never taught so much, which is way more fun than walking in the burning hot february sun here! so we have been going pretty hard core teaching tons of people, but the only problem is... that no one goes to church! ah dang it! the same problem! its like.. its not that hard... just wake up at 8 and go to church! its actually pretty good there! you will be pleasently surprised! but that isnt really a new challenge! but i had a really good experience the last night. me and kimball were talking about how we werent able to get people to church and stuff and that day i think we had taught about prayer literally like 8 times, and kimball was like, "you know we tell every one that they just need to converse with God and talk with him about how we feel and really just try to talk with him from the heart.. lets pray!" i think it was one of the few nights in my mission where i really just put it all out there before God.. normally i just tried to figure it out on my own, but it was an awesome experience... after the prayer, it was like ideas were coming from all directions! it was really amazing! that is the best part about the mission, just when you think you know what you are doing and think you can do it on your own.. you realize that no matter how good you are, you need the Guy upstairs to help out! over all we got some new plans to get people to church, really excited to put them into action! 

This sunday president Gomes gave us a surprise visit at our church meetin.. he walked in and i had the horrible realization that i had forgotten to shave.. smooth move Ryan... but im pretty sure he didnt even notice! 

also this sunday, Islei gave a talk, and it was seriously so good! it seemed like he already had like 2 years as a member, he was bearing his testimony and using scriptures, it was so good... honestly i dont think there is anything more rewarding that watching some one get truly changed by the Gospel... its gonna be real hard tosay good bye there! 

investigator watch: we got no one who is really progressing other than Maria. she is Vitoria´s mom,one of my recent converts! she stopped drinking coffe this week! it was legit, she just asked usto take all off here coffee away! so we took it, and the rest of the night my bag smelt like coffee until we found a garabage.

we also gots Mécia, she is showing some life again, she is really having a hard time praying and with coffee, we will see what we can do! 

we got a ton of others, but none of them went to church so yeah..we will see what happens this week!

thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and hope that everyone is doing well! love you all and hope you have a great week! Carnaval is happening this week so it should be a party up in here!! 

Elder Ryan

The News! 2-2-15

Alright so my new companion is Elder Kimball! yes, is a related to President Kimball and no, its not his grandpa, its a bit more distant! haha he is from Lubbick Texas, and he is literally the Piano Man! he plays like a boss!

But this week was a really good one! things in the area werent looking to hot as we ended the last transfer, but me and kimball got off to a really good start working really hard, finding lots of new people to teach, including a really good new family (3of the 6 members went to church this week) and lots of lessons! we really destroyed together! it was a really fun week! it felt like we didnt miss a step together.. normaly it takes some time to adjust to your companion, but we just really clicked fast and worked really well together! 

So i dont know it i said this in my last letter, but last sunday i started visiting the members and telling them that i was probably gonna be transferred, saying good bye and talking pics.. well that night i learned that i was staying! so this sunday was pretty funny, everyone asking me what i was still doing here and all confused and stuff! but i was pretty sad at first when i realized that i was staying, but this week has changed every thing! 

Investigators: Suzana.. well that was really interesting this week! so she has been going to church and stuff and she likes it and all but she doesnt think she needs to live the law of chasity and she doesnt need to know that Joseph was a prophet to get baptized... she sees the law of chasity as if it has faded out with the times and doesnt believe that any one in the whole world lives it.. therefore she refuses to live it.. and she doesnt think that it is important to know if JSmith was a Prophet.. needless to say, there were some pretty intense lessons there.. but none of them really got us any where.. some times its rough because the people can just be so hard hearted and kinda blind.. we dont really know what we are gonna do with her...

Rafaela, Regina, Ester, Marcia, Flaviano: this is the super legit family that we found this week! they are progressing really well and are keeping commitments and everytime we teach there it just really flows with the spirit! they are marked for the 14th and the 21st. things are looking really good here!

 we have some others but most of them are waiting on marriage or having other problems.. we dont really know if we are gonna stay with them.. that probably is the hardest part of the mission, you start teaching and loving the people, just doing everything you can for them, but sometimes we cant help the people that dont want to help themselves, no matter how much we love them... i think it is the same thing with God. he loves us so much and wants to help us so much, but sometimes we dont let him into our lives. maybe it is because we are scared of what others will think, or maybe we think we can do it on our own.. but in the end, every one is gonna need help from the divine that they can find in no other place. 

This week i learned that when we just focus on other people and trying to help them, life is really busy.. but really happy! this was one of the best weeks of my mission, and i never have felt so good, and i realized that i stopped thinking about how i was gonna make it through one more week in Siquiera, or how i was gonna solve my own problems... i just worked, and it was a week full of miracles! 

Love you all hope that everything is going well for you!! love you tons!! 

Elder Ryan

transfers and the happenings 1-26-15

soo to start out, i was think that this would be my last week here in Siqueira Campos seeing as i've already been here for 6 months, but to my surprise, i stayed and Gauchay was transferred.. i don't know who will be my new companion until tomorrow, but im pretty anxious to know who it is. not really sure how i feel about staying one more here.. i mean i've been here forever now, and sometimes it gets hard because i feel like i've done so much and that there isn't anything that i can do more.. obviously a lie! haha but at this point, Siqueira campos is home now, and im happy that i stayed!

So this week the highlight was that Islei passed the sacrament and he brought his kids to church all dressed nice, it was way cool to see! love them like crazy! they have literally become my family here and it has been so awesome to see the changes that have taken place in their lives! Mécia is getting a little unexcited and i was ready to give up on her, but i think that i stayed in the area just for one reason.. i have a family to complete here, so before i leave, my goal is to see her baptized!

this week was a tough one in the are of proselyting, we have been working a lot in a place called Bairro América ( because all the streets are named after the countries in the americas) but im planning to start working more in the are that is a bit more rich, but it is way closer to the chapel, should be tough, but im needing a change of scenery! haha

we are working with Suzana, she is the lady that likes to talk a ton.. i'm not sure if i already wrote about her, but she went to church for the second time and she is progress fairly well, the only problem is that she doesn't want to get baptized! haha so that makes things kind of tricky, she is living all the commandments and such, she doesn't think she is ready yet, but its pretty clear to us that it's water time! but we´ll see what we can get done this week!

We also have been teaching Luciana. she is a good investigator, she has been keeping the commitments till now, but the best part is that the whole street are her family members, so it looks like there are lots of possibilities there as well!

so pretty much thats all i have to say about this week! we got the water problem figured out, which was good! and that is about it!

Love you all! hope you all have a great week!

Elder Ryan